Disabling the AVAS

Can the speaker be switched farther upstream where the wiring is more accessible?
If I could get to the same wires from the top side in the engine compartment, it would be simpler.

 

How is any engine noise quieter than no engine noise?

 

Robert S. Wall Emerson of Western Michigan University has argued that several high-end gasoline-powered luxury cars are already quieter than hybrids, and according to his most recent studies, hybrid SUVs were noisier than many internal-combustion vehicles. He concludes that pedestrian safety is not a hybrid issue but rather "a quiet car issue."

 

Lol, you’re all over the place. Hybrids, Hybrid SUV, according to someone or another. There is NO engine that can be quieter than not using an engine. Regardless of what you read.

 

Much of the noise from an approaching vehicle doesn't come from the engine; that's the point -- a lot of it is tire and wind noise. Quiet tires + streamlined vehicle low wind resistance + refined engine noise in the quietest ICE car can be less than noisier tire + boxy vehicle wind resistance in an electric SUV (including a hybrid with the engine off at the time).

*most* EVs are quieter than *most* ICE cars, but not all. It probably should be a standard EPA-style test -- at a few select speeds in a particular controlled environment, a vehicle must emit X db naturally or artificially to pass. I know it's more complicated than that though (AVAS has specific frequency requirements as I understand it)

 

https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/documents/tp-141-01_minimum_sound_requirements_for_hybrid_and_electric_vehicles.pdf
74 pages of test procedure

 

It’s only been 2 months, but have the mice has sufficient time to move the insulation from the speaker to the cabin air filter?

 

You are the absolute GOAT! Been searching for a solution but only ran into people arguing about the ethics of this. I came from a GM EV where it was one fuse pull away from disabling the useless pedestrian noise. IMO it is more of a distraction than it is help, I've had the car only a week and I get nothing but people stopping and staring at me when I'm driving by. When it threw the code, was it persistent or were you able to exit from that screen? Also would it let you drive with that code on?

I'm no engineer nor am I able to understand electronics up to this level. Would you be able to make me/us one and sell it? I'm sure it can fit in a small envelope and shipped through USPS. Just name your price buddy.

 

All of the other connectors are many wire connectors (connecting to many other components). You couldn't leave them disconnected, since you'd lose a lot of other functionality in the car. The most accessible would be the one going to the AVA control unit behind the glove compartment, but again, you don't want to make irreversible changes to the wiring....

The Canadian Clarity models have a switch to disable AVAS, to the left of the steering wheel. It defaults to ON mode when the car is turned on, and you can press the switch to toggle the AVAS on and off. I don't know if you could buy the switch? If not, you might be able to rig up an electrical circuit to fake a press of the switch upon start-up. The switch would momentarily connect pins 1&7 of the AVA control unit's connector (behind the glove compartment). Pin 1 (switch) would be yellow and pin 7 (IG1_METER 12V) would be lt-pur/brown, if they are installed in the American model. I wonder if you could just install a jumper between these two pins, or if the system would get mad if you did that.

But still, the easiest solution is what was described above, to install a resistor at the speaker unit, and somehow waterproof it. 4ohm is a common speaker impedance. You may need a higher-wattage resistor. I'm not sure how much power the acoustic system would try to pump into it.

 

Honda decided the Canadians abused this privilege the Americans didn't have and removed the pedestrian kill-switch when they updated the Clarity PHEV. Anyway, the switch was inconvenient; it had to be activated every time the car was turned on.

Honda got even meaner when they updated the Clarity PHEV: in my 2018 Clarity the pedestrian-protection sound turns off when the car is stopped, but after the update the sound is louder and I believe it remains sounding as long as the car is "On."

 

Even more reason to disable it.